Letter from Captain John Davison to his wife, Eliza Ann (Gannett) Davison concerning the schooner Yucatan, describing places visited, the southern slave system and the loss of a man at sea, March 13, 1845.

Compared to plants and animals, humans seem to be the least tolerant of long winters and cold temperatures. The most effective natural mechanism we have for minimizing heat loss is constriction of the blood vessels close to the surface of our skin, and we’re a little better than most organisms at generating heat.

A large number of the marine species off the northern New England coast, including Atlantic cod and winter flounder, produce anti-freeze proteins to lower the freezing point of their body fluids in order to survive the winter.